Sony has officially acquired Crunchyroll

Sony Pictures Entertainment and AT&T announced on Monday that Sony‘s Funimation Global Group has completed its acquistion of Crunchyroll from AT&T. The purchase price was US$1.175 billion, and the proceeds were paid in cash at closing.

AT&T expects to use the proceeds from this transaction to help support its debt reduction efforts.

The announcement did not reveal how or if the individual streaming platforms would merge or plans for subscription costs for users. Crunchyroll‘s own announcement reads, “The two brands you know and love will be working together, and we believe this is a great thing for fans and the industry, alike! Both teams are knowledgeable, passionate, and have been committed to the anime community for decades. We couldn’t ask for better partners.

Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. commented: “Crunchyroll adds tremendous value to Sony’s existing anime businesses, including Funimation and our terrific partners at Aniplex and Sony Music Entertainment Japan. With the addition of Crunchyroll, we have an unprecedented opportunity to serve anime fans like never before and deliver the anime experience across any platform they choose, from theatrical, events, home entertainment, games, streaming, linear TV — everywhere and every way fans want to experience their anime. Our goal is to create a unified anime subscription experience as soon as possible.”

Crunchyroll is an anime streaming service with over 5 million subscribers and available across 200+ countries and territories. Its services also extend to anime merchandise, mobile games, and manga. Funimation’s streaming service currently offers over 700 anime series and known for releasing simulcast dubbed content, film distribution, merchandise, live events, and more. The platform recently rebranded Australia and New Zealand’s streaming service AnimeLab into Funimation.